If Liberal leader Justin Trudeau sought to insulate himself from unwanted surprises when he ejected Liberal senators from his caucus, Prime Minister Stephen Harper achieved a similar goal Tuesday when he defanged Elections Canada.

It’s no secret that the Conservatives don’t feel the love for the federal elections agency. It’s hard to maintain any affection for an office that raids your party headquarters with TV cameras conveniently on hand to spread the embarrassment. Ottawa journalists insist there was no leak of the raid plan, it was just good luck that someone happened upon it. But you’ll never convince the Tories.

The Harper government’s new Fair Elections Act was ushered in to the sound of old scores being settled and opposition claims that the title smacks of double-speak.

It’s doubtful if many people are higher on Stephen Harper’s “enemies” list than Marc Mayrand, the chief electoral officer.

Conservatives accuse him of taking a heavy-handed approach to their perceived transgressions of electoral law, while treading lightly when it comes to their political opponents.

In the new bill, introduced by democratic reform minister Pierre Poilievre Tuesday, the Tories got their own back — removing Election Canada’s investigative function from Mr. Mayrand’s purview.

“The referee should not be wearing a team jersey,” said Mr. Poilievre.

The raid was just one of many unhappy confrontations between the ruling party and the elections watchdog. Most notoriously, there was the confusing “in and out” affair (advertising money sent from one office to another, perhaps to evade spending limits); and the “robocall” matter (mysterious phone calls directing non-Tory voters to phoney addresses to cast their ballots). It didn’t lessen Conservative suspicions when Dean Del Mastro, the party spokesman on robocalls, was separately charged with alleged election violations.

Neither matter was ever shown to be the mass conspiracy critics suggested, though both contributed to the impression that the Conservatives like to play fast and loose with the rules, skirting as close as they can to blatant breaches while insisting they never actually tumbled over. Only one person has been charged in the robocalls case, but a judge assessing the matter delivered a stern lecture on Tory tactics, noting the party practised “trench warfare” in trying to block the issue from being heard, and “made little effort to assist with the investigation.” And this is supposed to be the law-and-order party.

There’s little evidence the party plans to mend its ways, or that it accepts it did anything wrong. But it resents the enthusiasm Marc Mayrand, the chief electoral officer, put into pursuing perceived transgressions. Mr. Mayrand is one of those senior federal officials, like former Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, who did their jobs far too diligently for the government’s liking. The Tories enjoy beefing about the civil service, and especially civil servants who don’t know to back down when they’re told.

Mr. Page was neutralized by introducing a replacement after his term expired. Mr. Mayrand will simply have his investigatory powers removed, and transferred to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. To offset the inevitable criticism, the new “Fair Elections Act” (the name alone signals Conservatives thought they were treated unfairly in the past) is loaded with other nuggets it can point to as evidence of its sincerity.

No longer will it be illegal for people in eastern Canada to let slip election results before voting in western Canada has closed, a much-needed improvement that should have been made years ago. Voters will no longer be able to vouch for the identity of someone who forgot to bring their ID, so Dad will have to rush back and get his wallet before he can cast his ballot. Penalties on abuses will be toughened, and a registry established to keep track of robocalls, to show that the law-abiding Tories mean business.

Other goodies include a boost in donation limits to political parties, and in the amount leadership candidates can lend themselves. Both will appeal to the self-interest of politicians on all sides of the House, which the Tories know is always near the top of any MP’s priority list.

In many ways it’s classic Harper Conservative in nature: the Tories get to whack some noisy bureaucrat who complicated their lives, while buying off critics with popular savouries and sending a message to the public that they don’t tolerate rule-breakers (not that any Conservative would ever break a rule). They can point to the act any time opposition members try to raise the robocall case in the next election, and note that you can now go to prison for impersonating an election official.

The Tories can also be certain the Act won’t be messed with by Liberals when it gets to the Senate, because there are no more Senate Liberals. Mr. Trudeau made them all non-persons just a week ago. So both leaders, in jettisoning trouble before it happens, have something to celebrate. Except Mr. Trudeau had to axe life-long party members; Mr. Harper just disarmed a perceived enemy. I bet he feels he made the better deal.